Isahaya Commercial High School's Cultural Festival

I managed to take the train to Isahaya Shogyo today without getting lost...yay for me! It was nice to see the "triple A's"(Alex, Amber and Amanda) at their school.

I thought this was pretty impressive..it's a mozaic of paper.

One of the classrooms had a cultural theme happening.

Another classroom was turned into a haunted house. I loved it!! My throat hurt the rest of the day from screaming so much.

Yoshida sensei (the Yoshida sensei at my school's wife) gave us free tickets to attend the tea ceremony.

The students put on some really cool dancing and singing acts...

Amanda, Yuka and her boyfriend.

Yamasaki sensei (at the back) is one of the new teachers this year. He came to the new teachers 2 day demonstration classes that were held at my school earlier in the school year. We had a chance to talk quite a bit at the enkai (drinking party) that followed.

I ran into quite a few of my students!

These two are the sweetest girls...!

Bunko Unzen trip

I was supposed to go to a Conference for English teachers today, which would have involved sitting through many talks, some of which would be in Japanese.

Because the teachers at Bunko had called Seiryo to ask if I could join their school trip to Unzen, I was able to get out of attending the conference. Yay!

Our first stop was at Unzen jigoku. Although I have been here many (many..) times, it's always a little different depending on the company.

Sasaki sensei is easily mistaken for a student, eh?

Okubo sensei (English teacher)

From Unzen Jigoku, we headed to Nita Pass (at the top of mount Unzen).

The scenery was gorgeous! The professional photographer took the teachers' yearbook picture here.



There was a ropeway to take you further up. While the students and the rest of the teachers had lunch, Okubo sensei and I went up.

Here's a view of Isahaya once we reached the top.

Mount Unzen is an active volcano. The last time it erupted was about 10 years ago. At that time, it buried an entire town...After the eruption, there's a new mountain that was formed, called shinsomething. It's the larger mountain on the right.

From where we were, we could people who were hiking the mountain on the left..afterwards, I asked Mori sensei about it. He said that it takes a couple of hours to make it to the top, that he's done it a couple of times.

After visiting Nita Pass, we headed down to the remains of the town that got buried not so long ago..

The last place we visited was a newly opened museum in Shimabara. I learned quite a bit of the history of Unzen. It is only since the late 90's that the government has deemd it safe to return living in Unzen.

Mount Fugen behind me.

All in all, it was a fun and informative school trip!

For the past week, I've been busy organizing our upcoming trip to Kochi next weekend. When I mentioned to Sasaki sensei that we were going to Kochi, he said he's never been and had always wanted to go. So I invited him to come along.

He came over after work this evening, so we could look up some information on the internet about trains, ferries etc. He can read Japanese (obviously..), and I can't..so it was very helpful to have him check some of the info. We're going to be taking all available modes of transportation (save airplane) to get there!

He really wants to improve his English, and has been asking me if I know somewhere where he can have eikaiwa (English conversation) classes. I don't know if he's hinting at wanting me to start some. Maybe we can arrange something every now and then, where he could practice his English and me my Japanese. Just from this evening, we both accumulated a long list of newly learned words...

I'm looking forward to next weekend!!

Lizard

Whenever I'm home, I have all the windows/veranda doors in my apartment open. Sometimes leave them all open even when I'm not home....I should stop doing that.

But anyways.

A couple of days ago, before heading to work, I slammed the veranda door in my room shut. I noticed that it wasn't closing as easily as usual and thought the curtains might have gotten caught (like they sometimes do). I moved the curtains, and tried closing the door. It closed enough that I could lock it, but still felt like something had gotten caught. I was in a bit of a rush, so left it as it was without giving it much thought.

When I got home from school today, as usual, I opened up all the doors.

I went towards my closest to grab something, and when I turned around I saw this:

A lizard got caught in the door!!! That's why it was not closing properly.........poor thing.

It scared the crap out of me.

Shirakimine

Bright and early this morning, I headed down to Taira port to pick up Erica. Our plan was to find Shirakimine, which is somewhere within the city of Isahaya to view the much talked about cosmos flowers. On our way to Shirakimine, we picked up Alex then tried to found our way.

Shirakimine is famous for the fields of cosmos flowers. This past week, I was told repeatedly by many different people NOT to go on a weekend because of the huge crowds. But since this was the only day we could make it, we figured we'll just have to put up with the crowds..

It turned out not to be that bad!

We ran into a Natsuki, one of my students at Seiryo. A short while late, we bumped into Mori sensei and his family as well. Guess it is the season to go cosmos viewing..!

Erica had wanted to go see the fields in Aso a couple of weekends ago when we ended up going to Mitsui Greenland instead. I'm glad she got a chance to finally see some the beautiful flowers!

Tennis in Sasebo

We met up at school at 6:45am. There were 30 students, Uchida sensei and myself on the bus, bound for Sasebo. We arrived a little before 9am, when the tournament was set to begin.

Schools from all across Nagasaki prefecture attended this tournament which will last both today and tomorrow. The players who were chosen to participate will be spending the 2 nights in Sasebo, the rest of the team members will be taking the bus back again tomorrow.

The students really push themselves to excel in all they do. The attitude of 'Gambarimasu!' pervades all aspects of the students' life...studies, club activities etc. They played very well!

During the day, I got a chance to learn a lot more about what Japanese funerals are like, specifically for members of the deceased family.

By the time we arrived back at the school, it was almost 8pm. I offered Uchida sensei a letter, and included a Baha'i prayer. I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate, but wanted to give her something to show my condolences.

Uchida sensei

I got a text message from Uchida sensei while at school today. A couple of weeks ago, she had asked me whether I wanted to join her and some of the tennis club members on a trip to Sasebo this weekend for cheering the members who will be participating in a tournament.

I was surprised that she wasn't at school today, but figured she might have a business trip or something. I got another text from her saying to call her. I gave her a call, and when she picked up she sorta whispered her hello. I asked if she was all right, she answered she's doing much better now, thank you for asking.

'Better? what happened?' I thought. It turns out, her father passed away on Tuesday. It must have been announced at the morning morning the following day, Wednesday. However I'm usually at Bunko on that day so didn't hear about it.

I figured it out without her knowing that I didn't know at first...(I think). I wish my supervisor had told me about it today...!

Uchida sensei won't be back at school till next Tuesday, but wanted to know if I was still wanting to go to the tennis tournament. I was surprised that she still intended on going! She said it would be nice to have the company if I'm not busy, and I would love to go.

When someone passes away, it's customary to offer money to the family of the deceased in specially wrapped envelopes. At funerals I've attended, I was told that usually people offer about the equivalent of $40, though if you are a close friend it's more... Also, it is considered bad luck to offer new bills. For funerals you should include old, wrinkled looking bills. The opposite is true for weddings where people expect to receive new shiny bills.

Anyways, Kitano sensei said that at the morning meeting yesterday, it was announced that Uchida sensei requested that the teachers do not trouble themselves with the money offering custom.

Volunteer cleaning Day

In the afternoon, the students were divided into groups and then set out into the community to do volunteer cleaning.

I headed out with the 1-5 students, who were assigned to one of the furthest area to clean. We wandered around the Tarami community center picking up trash. Each group has 3 difference bags in order to divide the trash into burnable, non burnable and PET bottles as you pick them up.

I never cease to be amazed at how well things are organized.

Takengei Festival

...or otherwise known as the 'Dancing Foxes of Nagasaki'.

Alex and I headed downtown today to see 2 men dressed in fox outfits do acrobatics over two bamboo sticks. The Takengei festival is held the weekend after Okunchi. It doesn't seem to be as well-known though.

We arrived downtown earlier in the afternoon to have lunch at the Chinese restaurant that Okubo sensei and Sasaki sensei had recommended a while back before heading to Wakamiya shrine (where the Takengei Festival was going to be held). I love Chinese food!

We only had a general idea of where the shrine was .....we wandered around a little and eventually found our way to the torii leading up to Wakamiya jinja. By the time we made it to the top, the performance had already began. There was a crowd of people waiting to make their way up the stairs!

We tried to find another way up..and eventually found our way closer to the show. Unfortunately..we still couldnt see a whole lot. The crowd would start 'ooooowing' and 'awwwing' and we (and the people around us) would be ducking as low as we could trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

At one point, one of the men pulled a live chicken from his costume and threw it into the audience. I was happy about not being too close...

The performance didn't last more than half an hour, would have loved to see what they were doing!!

On our way back down, view of Nagasaki from Wakamiya shrine.

Should remember to come earlier next year if we want to have a spot we can see from!

Apartment Cleaning

Today was cleaning day at my apartment building. Since moving here, I have never been home on the 'cleaning days' (mainly because they're organized on weekends). However, since I was home today I was happy to help out. We started at 8:30am, and ended around 11am.

It was a beautiful sunny day. So, as is the custom in Japan, everyone was covered from head to toe to protect themselves from the sun.

Most of the people who live in my building helped weed, cut the grass, sweep, etc. There was a lot of mess left over from the last typhoon that passed through. Once the building area looked decent, we moved on to the road..weeding, sweeping etc.

I think it's great that people make time to clean the neighbourhood they live in!

Beautiful colours

While driving home from school today...

Last Friday, the closing ceremony for the 2nd term was held at school. Tomorrow will be the opening ceremony in the gym.

There were no classes today, so it was a quiet day at school. Many teachers took nenkyu (paid leave). I took the opportunity to catch up on some things I'd been meaning to do for a while but never got around to doing.....

Also gave me time to study my Japanese (which is not coming along so well......... at the rate I'm going, I don't know if I'll be ready for the test this December)

I'm exhausted from the weekend, I think I'll be calling it an early night. Oyasuminasai! (Goodnight!)

Okunchi Festival

The largest festival in Nagasaki, called the Okunchi festival, takes place every year from October 7th – 9th. It is a time when thousands of tourists descent upon the city… if you don’t like crowds, it’s best to stay away from downtown during these 3 days.

So today was the last day of the festival, and since neither Maki nor Erica have ever attended, we decided to head downtown. We drove to a train station in Isahaya and took the train from there. It's hard enough finding parking downtown on a regular week day, forget going during the festival.

The city is divided into many machi (towns/sections). Each machi has a special dance/float type of presentation. Every year, they rotate between the different machi who will be taking part in the festival. In any given year, there are about 6 or 7 machi who will participate. A couple of years ago was the year of the kokodesho dance, the most famous of all the dances. One of the machi from last year performed the dragon dance, which is also well known.

The festival begins on October 7th at Suwa shrine, the largest shrine in Nagasaki.

The mikoshi (portable shrine) being brought down the many many many stairs to the bottom torii. It is then displayed downtown for all to see. On the last day (today), the mikoshi is brought back up the stairs.. it's quite a sight to see.

It was the first time for me to see how they bring it up. Maki, Erica, Huihui and I got seats outside the shrine and waiting patiently in the sun until it was time for the mikoshi to be pulled/carried up the stairs. Running up all the uneven stairs with the heavy mikoshi on their shoulders, I'm surprised nobody gets hurt!

We spent the rest of the day wandering around downtown hoping to catch some of the other dances as they go around the city. We saw one called oranda manzai (the dutch twosome)

and kawa fune (River boat/ship). As the kawafune came towards us, I noticed one of the men waving our way...it turned out to be Taira sensei!! He's an English teacher who lives on the third floor of my building!

The main streets downtown were line with many stalls selling food, games, food, cards, fish and more food.

We left in the early evening, giving us enough time to take the train back to the car, and allowing time to drive to Taira where the last ferry would be taking Erica and Maki back to Kumamoto.

I look forward to seeing them again soon! :)

Rice Harvest (Day 2 in Kumamoto)

The next morning, we went over to Funatsu sensei’s place to do inekari (rice harvesting). The sun was beating down...I think it would be really difficult to have to do to this all day, every day during this season...

Voila this year's rice harvesting group


After a couple of hours, we all headed inside to partake in the feast prepared by Funatsu sensei's wife. Takeshi, a friend of Funatsu sensei's son, was quite entertaining...!!

We left a little early to meet up with Maki at the ferry port and head back to Nagasaki. After the 45 minute ferry ride, we started our 1 hour long drive back to my place. Most of the drive is through very inaka (country/farm) area.

There's a ramen shop near my place that I had yet to visit, despite Pene's repeated words of how good the place is, so we went to check it out for dinner. It was indeed very oishii (delicious)!

Since neither Maki nor Alex have seen Insayama, before calling it a night we drove back into the city for a visit. It's a mountain from which you have the best view of the city...it's especially beautiful at night.

It was a fun- (very) filled 2 days, spent in good company!